Service order system and user interface for use in healthcare and other fields

Abstract

A system provides a user interface display allowing clinicians to perform computerized treatment order entry by concurrently applying multiple strategies for placing computerized orders for a specific patient. A system provides a displayable list of services available for order by a healthcare provider in providing health care to a patient. The system includes a display processor for initiating generation of data representing a hierarchical sequence of display images. The display images include a first menu of display items enabling a user to select an initial set of services for order from predetermined candidate sets of services, in response to first criteria. The display images also include a second menu of display items enabling a user to select a service to add to the initial order set from a set of orderable services associated with a healthcare provider organization department, to produce a combined order set. An order processor initiates ordering of the orders in the combined order set in response to user command.

Description

[0001] This is a non-provisional application of provisional application Ser. No. 60 / 472,283 by D. Rucker filed May 21, 2003.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] This invention concerns a system and user interface supporting user ordering of services associated with hospital departments for treatment of a patient. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] Computerized placement of orders by physicians for patient treatment is used in a relatively small proportion of US hospital stays despite the existence of a substantial body of scientific literature showing clear improvements in patient safety derived when using such a system. Little use is made of this life-saving technology because physicians view computerized order entry as too slow and cumbersome. Known physician order entry systems employ separate navigation hierarchies for each ordering method. Further, such known systems typically employ one set of display menus to search for sets of orderable treatments and a different set of display men...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0005] A system allows a physician to seamlessly navigate between user interface menus to select a treatment order set from predetermined order sets including standard sequence departmentally-based hospital admission order sets and individual physician treatment orders. A system provides a displayable list of services available for order by a healthcare provider in providing health care to a patient. The system includes a display processor for initiating generation of data representing a hierarchical sequence of display images. The display images include a first menu of display items enabling a user to select an initial set of services for order from predetermined candidate sets of services, in response to first criteria (e.g. admission, preoperative, disease-based or treatment-based order sets). The display images also include a second menu of display items enabling a user to select a service to add to the initial order set from a set of orderable services associated with a healthcare provider organization department, to produce a combined order set (e.g. additional nursing, laboratory, radiology or medication orders). An order processor initiates ordering of the orders in the combined order set in response to user command.

Problems solved by technology

Little use is made of this life-saving technology because physicians view computerized order entry as too slow and cumbersome.

In addition, when a desired order involves a mix of both a set of predetermined orders and an individual order for treatment, known systems typically require the user to perform a cumbersome two-pass process to initiate the order.

Existing systems do not support concurrently editing an order set whilst providing access to other ordering menus that would eliminate the cumbersome two-pass process.

Consequently, a physician is faced with the onerous and error prone task of remembering previously entered parameters associated with selecting an order set for recall in subsequently selecting an additional compatible individual treatment order.

Known systems typically do not allow combining of order sets, either in whole or in part, and do not support a sequenced departmentally-based admitting and treatment ordering strategy.

Further, known systems fail to provide user friendly access to support selection of an individual treatment order at flexible points of a workflow task sequence involved in providing healthcare to a patient.

A physician seeking to access an individual order, for example, is typically constrained to use time-consuming and clumsy text string search and string completion tools to find a desired individual orderable item.

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